1,477 results for "baroque"

Superb French hand-painted watercolor/gouache miniature on a bone panel. It depicts Bacchus and Ariane in a courting scene set in a mountainous landscape. The 18th century miniature is a version of the painting by Charles Joseph Natoire (1700-1777). It is a small but elegant painting with amazing quality details. It is mounted in a hand carved polychrome and gilded Spanish Baroque style wood frame...

Description: Antique print titled 'Salvator Rosa'. Steel engraving of Salvator Rosa, an Italian Baroque painter, poet, and printmaker, who was active in Naples, Rome, and Florence. Artists and Engravers: D. Appleton & Company was an American company founded by Daniel Appleton (December 10, 1785 – March 27, 1849), who opened a general store which included books. He published his first book in 1831. The company's publications gradually extended over the entire field of literature. It issued the works of contemporary scientists at moderate prices, for example, Herbert Spencer...

A set of two framed plaques made of alabaster powder and resin, framed in a classic Baroque-style frame gilded with gold leaf, by Biggs and Sons, London, circa mid-20th century, mark...

Statio I – Christ Condemned to Death, Antique Mezzotint – Johann Elias Haid, Augsburg This dramatic devotional print represents Statio I from the Stations of the Cross: Christ being...

Beautiful large canvas landscape featuring peacock, owl, hawk, and a variety of birds landscape. Vivid colors. Signed L. Cassidy. Wonderfully framed. Curbside to NYC/Philly $450

Attribution to Francesco Solimena "Resurrection of Christ" 18th Century oil on canvas (129x77 cm.) framed good condition for the period Francesco Solimena, also called l'Abate C...

C. Maratta went to Rome in 1636 and became an apprentice in the Studio of Andrea Sacchi. Pope Alexander VII commissioned many paintings from him. Maratta’s paintings of the later 165...

Alberto Carlieri (Italy-Roma 1672-1720), "Christ and the adulteress", Oil on canvas, with frame cm H 115 x L 151 x 6.5, only canvas H 98.5 x L 135 cm...

17th century painting J.Castano 17th century Spain

Italian school; second third of the 17th century. "The Healing of Tobias". Oil on canvas. Relined. very good condition Dimensions: 117.5 x 107 cm; 130 x 118 cm (frame). This canvas ...

"The King and the Musical Page" by A. Sturm 1885 to K. Begas. Oil on canvas with wooden frame. Signed and dated. (S-78).

Italian School Panel Painting, 17th Century "The Adoration of Mary" Oil on panel. 78 x 25.5 cm Original carved wooden frame Good condition

Venetian style dolphin and clam wall decor set from the 1960's in silver leafed resin with hand painted gold highlights. Together, they make a striking baroque focal point in any roo...

Vintage Italian silk scarf with 18th century Italian gilded wood fragment and naturally forming baroque pearls on canvas. Vintage silk gold and black scarf centered with a large coo...

Magnificent French Floral Oil Painting from Paris Universal Exposition in 1900. This captivating 19th-century still life oil painting by the award-winning French artist Charles Henr...

Ornamental Baroque Weaving and Embroidery Sample Print by H. Dolmetsch, 1890s This richly decorative antique print originates from the celebrated series *Ornamentenschatz*, compiled...

Portrait of Queen Marie Leszczynska, Wife of Louis XV, oil on canvas, 18th century Oil on canvas depicting Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France and wife of Louis XV, dressed in a luxu...

This is an original antique architectural design for a pulpit in baroque style dating approximately between 1740 and 1760. The artist responsible for this design is Franz Xaver Hab...

Four paintings depicting the seasons, circle of Noel Coypel, second half of the 17th century Oil on canvas, unsigned Measures: cm W 37 x H 46 x D 2 cm (canvas) The four paintings, pr...

Unique Baroque wall shelve from Portugal, adorned with beautiful gilt and faux marble, Having arrived in Portugal later than it did in the rest of Europe, baroque art was to take on ...

Portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen Consort of France, 17th Century Oil on canvas, European School, ca. 1660–1680, late 17th century Oil on canvas depicting Maria Theresa of...

This a print of the iconic The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough from around 1770. It is believed to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttali, the son of wealthy ironmonger. This print come...

Spectacular large scale mid-17th Century Flemish tapestry created after the 1630s design by Jacob Jordaens (d. 1678). Several tapestries of identical design were produced based on dr...

Matteo Lovatti (Italian, 1861-1909) A Fine 19th-Century Oil on Canvas Titled 'Church V. State - The Fencing Lesson'. The finely detailed artwork depicting an interior tavern scene, f...

Rare Portrait of Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia (1709-1762) 18th Century Signature Signed by court painter Magnificent oil on canvas depicting Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1709-1762),...

Oil on board Venetian Canal Scene looking towards the mouth of The Grand Canal with Della Salute to one side . Typical in the Grand Tour style of 18th ,19th and 20th centuries ..

A Fine Italian 19th Century Oil Painting on Canvas "La Madonna della Seggiola" after Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino 1483-1520). The circular painted canvas depicting a seated Madonna holding an infant Jesus Christ next to a child Saint John the Baptist, all within a massive carved two-tone gilt wood, gilt-patinated and gesso frame, which is identical to the frame on Raphael's original artwork. This painting is a 19th Century copy of Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola painted in 1514 and currently exhibited and part of the permanent collection at the Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy. The bodies of the Virgin, Christ, and the boy Baptist fill the whole picture. The tender, natural looking embrace of the Mother and Child, and the harmonious grouping of the figures in the round, have made this one of Raphael's most popular Madonnas. The isolated chair leg is reminiscent of papal furniture, which has led to the assumption that Leo X himself commissioned the painting. Circa: 1890-1900. Subject: Religious painting Painting diameter: 28 inches (71.1 cm) Frame height: 55 1/8 inches (140 cm) Frame width: 46 inches (116.8 cm) Frame depth: 5 1/8 inches (13 cm) Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian, March 28 or April 6, 1483 - April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates. Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region, where his father Giovanni Santi was court painter to the Duke. The reputation of the court had been established by Federico III da Montefeltro, a highly successful condottiere who had been created Duke of Urbino by the Pope - Urbino formed part of the Papal States - and who died the year before Raphael was born. The emphasis of Federico's court was rather more literary than artistic, but Giovanni Santi was a poet of sorts as well as a painter, and had written a rhymed chronicle of the life of Federico, and both wrote the texts and produced the decor for masque-like court entertainments. His poem to Federico shows him as keen to show awareness of the most advanced North Italian painters, and Early Netherlandish artists as well. In the very small court of Urbino he was probably more integrated into the central circle of the ruling family than most court painters. Federico was succeeded by his son Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, who married Elisabetta Gonzaga, daughter of the ruler of Mantua, the most brilliant of the smaller Italian courts for both music and the visual arts. Under them, the court continued as a centre for literary culture. Growing up in the circle of this small court gave Raphael the excellent manners and social skills stressed by Vasari. Court life in Urbino at just after this period was to become set as the model of the virtues of the Italian humanist court through Baldassare Castiglione's depiction of it in his classic work The Book of the Courtier, published in 1528. Castiglione moved to Urbino in 1504, when Raphael was no longer based there but frequently visited, and they became good friends. He became close to other regular visitors to the court: Pietro Bibbiena and Pietro Bembo, both later cardinals, were already becoming well known as writers, and would be in Rome during Raphael's period there. Raphael mixed easily in the highest circles throughout his life, one of the factors that tended to give a misleading impression of effortlessness to his career. He did not receive a full humanistic education however; it is unclear how easily he read Latin. Early Life and Works His mother Màgia died in 1491 when Raphael was eight, followed on August 1, 1494 by his father, who had already remarried. Raphael was thus orphaned at eleven; his formal guardian became his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo, a priest, who subsequently engaged in litigation with his stepmother. He probably continued to live with his stepmother when not staying as an apprentice with a master. He had already shown talent, according to Vasari, who says that Raphael had been "a great help to his father". A self-portrait drawing from his teenage years shows his precocity. His father's workshop continued and, probably together with his stepmother, Raphael evidently played a part in managing it from a very early age. In Urbino, he came into contact with the works of Paolo Uccello, previously the court painter (d. 1475), and Luca Signorelli, who until 1498 was based in nearby Città di Castello. According to Vasari, his father placed him in the workshop of the Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as an apprentice "despite the tears of his mother". The evidence of an apprenticeship comes only from Vasari and another source, and has been disputed—eight was very early for an apprenticeship to begin. An alternative theory is that he received at least some training from Timoteo Viti, who acted as court painter in Urbino from 1495.Most modern historians agree that Raphael at least worked as an assistant to Perugino from around 1500; the influence of Perugino on Raphael's early work is very clear: "probably no other pupil of genius has ever absorbed so much of his master's teaching as Raphael did", according to Wölfflin. Vasari wrote that it was impossible to distinguish between their hands at this period, but many modern art historians claim to do better and detect his hand in specific areas of works by Perugino or his workshop. Apart from stylistic closeness, their techniques are very similar as well, for example having paint applied thickly, using an oil varnish medium, in shadows and darker garments, but very thinly on flesh areas. An excess of resin in the varnish often causes cracking of areas of paint in the works of both masters. The Perugino workshop was active in both Perugia and Florence, perhaps maintaining two permanent branches. Raphael is described as a "master", that is to say fully trained, in December 1500. His first documented work was the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Città di Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. Evangelista da Pian di Meleto, who had worked for his father, was also named in the commission. It was commissioned in 1500 and finished in 1501; now only some cut sections and a preparatory drawing remain. In the following years he painted works for other churches there, including the Mond Crucifixion (about 1503) and the Brera Wedding of the Virgin (1504), and for Perugia, such as the Oddi Altarpiece. He very probably also visited Florence in this period. These are large works, some in fresco, where Raphael confidently marshals his compositions in the somewhat static style of Perugino. He also painted many small and exquisite cabinet paintings in these years, probably mostly for the connoisseurs in the Urbino court, like the Three Graces and St. Michael, and he began to paint Madonnas and portraits. In 1502 he went to Siena at the invitation of another pupil of Perugino, Pinturicchio, "being a friend of Raphael and knowing him to be a draughtsman of the highest quality" to help with the cartoons, and very likely the designs, for a fresco series in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. He was evidently already much in demand even at this early stage in his career. Influence of Florence Raphael led a "nomadic" life, working in various centres in Northern Italy, but spent a good deal of time in Florence, perhaps from about 1504. Although there is traditional reference to a "Florentine period...

17th century Antique Flemish Tapestry Wool & Silk Verdure Art Nouveau 4x6ft 122cm x 178cm "This is a very fine high quality rare authentic Antique Frenc...

Pair of Italian carved and giltwood wall brackets. Beautifully carved with acanthus leaves and scrollwork. Nice wide shelf atop a base that cumulates into a pineapple-like shape at b...

Alberto Carlieri (Rome 1672-1720) "Architectural capriccio with the preaching of Saint Paul in the Areopagus of Athens" Oil on canvas, measures with...

This 17th-century Baroque painting, in oil on copper, captures a serene portrayal of the Immaculate Conception, draped in yellow silk robes with accents of green and red. The divine ...

Portrait of Isabella Farnese, Queen Consort of Spain, 18th Century Oil on oval canvas depicting Isabella Farnese (1692–1766), queen consort of Spain by her marriage to Philip V. The...

A fine flemish 18th-19th century Verdure landscape tapestry, the wool and silk tapestry centered by a scene of a tall tree within a forest background and a foliage border. Circa: 180...

A petite French Baroque style wall bracket with mirror made of carved and silvered wood from the 19th century. The scalloped top rests on a scrolling leaf designed support above a small oval-shaped mirror. Unusually placed below the shelf, the mirror is set within a pierced Baroque cartouche...

A lovely collection of old antique iron skeleton keys. Found at an estate sale in Nuremberg, Germany. A nice addition to your collection or...

This distinguished 19th-century portrait depicts an elegantly dressed lady, captured with remarkable refinement and quiet dignity. Her composed expression, finely rendered features, ...

This is a gorgeous antique square 18th century flemish verdure landscape tapestry with birds depicting a beautiful and rich summer scene of a countryside with lush trees and vegetati...

Magnificent Italian 17th century Portrait of Virgin Mary measures 52 x 68 cm without the frame. The colors are stunning and the paintin...

Pair of old master paintings by August Querfurt (1696-1761). Oil on panel, one signed with initials in the lower left. Two scenes depicting hawking parties from the 18th century. ...

18th Century Carved and Painted Coat of Arms. Plaque features deeply hand-carved wood and retains traces of original polychrome and gilt finish. The coat of arms feature a double-hea...

Jan Frans van Bloemen, called Orizzonte (Antwerp, 1662 – Rome, 1749) A Late 17th–Early 18th Century Italian Landscape with Figures of the Roman Campagna...

Antonio Alegri, (Correggio - 1494-1534) Our Lady with the Child Jesus oil on copper, Italian School 16th century With inscription on the back '1494-1534...

Religious Oil on Canvas – European School, 18th Century Dimensions: 50 x 45 cm (frame), 34 x 29 cm (view): San Carlos Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan (1538-1584) A serene and contempl...

Pier Francesco Cittadini (Milan, 1616-Bologna, 1681) "Jacob and his family go to Egypt" Oil on canvas, cm 109 x 190 (canvas only) The valuable painting, made in oil on canvas, depicts Jacob and his family go to Egypt and we believe it can be, given the high quality painting, autograph work of Italian Pier Francesco Cittadini (Italy Milan, 1616 - Bologna, 1681) made after 1647. The work, in excellent condition is accompanied by a coeval frame in wood finely carved and golden. The scene depicted, which was confused with the Flight to Egypt in the past years, is instead identified with the biblical episode of Jacob’s journey. In the foreground, reading the painting from left to right, we see a caravan composed of animals, including donkeys, dromedaries, goats, dogs and horses and people, women, men and slaves, who carry on their journey along the banks of a river, following a path that to the right, would seem to lead to the through of a bridge. In addition to the watercourse is described an environment characterized by large rocks and impervious come far to cover the entire verticality of the canvas. On the left, in the distance, we see the tail of the caravan that runs along the steep path. Large trees enliven and harmonize the environment, as well as white and grey clouds characterize the predominantly clear sky and illuminated on the right by sunlight. The story is told in the Bible, Book of Genesis, 30, 25, passage in which is described the flight of Jacob from Haran after the contrasts with Laban, father of his wife Rachel. Jacob is the third great patriarch of the Bible. From his descendants originate the twelve generations of the people of Israel. He is the son of Isaac and Rebekah, who led him to flee from the wrath of Esau to Haran to seek refuge from his brother, Laban. At his uncle’s house Jacob met his daughter Rachel. As soon as he saw his cousin, Jacob was taken. Jacob will stay seven years in the service of Laban to marry his beloved Rachel. But Laban, with a deception, will give him in marriage first Lia, the least beautiful eldest daughter, and only after another seven years the splendid Rachel. From his first wife he will have several children, while Rachel will give birth to the beloved son, Joseph, who will become viceroy of Egypt. After years of service, Jacob asked to be paid with every dark-coloured garment among the sheep and every spotted and dotted garment among the goats. Laban accepted and sent away from his sons all the leaders of that kind. So Jacob took fresh branches of poplar, almond and plane tree, and flayed them, and put them in the troughs. The optical suggestion induced the goats and the sheep to conceive and give birth to dark, striped and dotted garments. He also ensured that all the strongest and healthiest leaders of the flock of Laban would drink near the barked branches, thus assuring a genetic superiority to his part of the flock. His flocks grew numerous and strong and he became richer than his relative, arousing envy. It was clear that Laban would not respect him much longer. At the suggestion of the Lord, Jacob decided to return to Canaan. Trying to avoid any possible dispute, he left with his family while Laban was absent for shearing sheep. But when, three days later, his uncle returned home, he became angry, feeling offended because Jacob had gone secretly and had not allowed him to greet his daughters and grandchildren. In addition, his teraphim, statuettes, or idols, which depicted the family deities, had disappeared. After 7 days of pursuit, Laban and his men reached Jacob’s group on Mount Gilead, in the mountainous region west of the Euphrates River, where his uncle and grandson had a stormy conversation. The younger man was outraged at being accused of stealing idols and told Labano to rummage through his family’s tents at will. Neither of them could know or even imagine that it was Rachel who took the idols and hid them in the saddle of the camel. During the search, she sat down firmly on the saddle, apologizing for not being able to get up, «because I usually have what happens to women» (Gen 31:35). So the loot wasn’t discovered. The author of this work was inspired by the composition of an engraving by Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664) of circa 1647. The engraving by Stefano della Bella bears the title "Iacob sur ses vieux jours quitte sans fascherie pour voir son filz Ioseph, sa terre et sa patrie" and is signed on the bottom left "Stef. of the Beautiful In. et fe." while on the right it is declared "Cum privil. Regis", that is with license of the king. Stefano Della Bella (Italy - Florence, May 18, 1610-Florence, July 12, 1664) was born in a family of painters, sculptors and goldsmiths and was left early orphan of his father sculptor, he dedicated himself first to the art of goldsmith at the school of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and Gasparo Mola, then turning his attention to drawing and engraving. He soon began drawing figures and copying the etchings of Jacques Callot, which inspired his early works. Under the protection of the Medici, in particular of Don Lorenzo, cadet son of Grand Duke Ferdinand I, Della Bella has the opportunity to make study trips to Rome, where he stayed from 1633-1636; In Rome he met French engravers and publishers of prints such as Israël Henriet and François Langlois, who influenced his decision to move to Paris in 1639, four years after the death of Callot. In Paris he soon reached, thanks to the engravings commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu, the success also worldly; he frequented courtiers, theatre artists and writers, while refusing too oppressive honors. In 1646-1647 he continued his travels in the Netherlands to Amsterdam, Antwerp and Dordrecht. He returned to Florence in 1650 and resumed working under the protection of the Medici court, working for his patrons. In 1656 he became a member of the Academy of Apatists. The painting object of this study is reasonably attributable to Pier Francesco Cittadini, or Pierfrancesco Cittadini, called the Milanese or the Franceschino (Italy - Milan, 1616-Bologna, 1681) as some exemplary stylistic comparisons proposed to follow can prove. Pier Francesco Cittadini was an Italian baroque painter, mainly active in Bologna. His artistic training first took place with the painter Daniele Crespi...

An engraving by Willem Swidde from 1696. The print features a palatial estate surrounded by formal gardens, a common representation of baroque architecture and landscaping. The centr...

This is a historical etching from "Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna", which translates to "Ancient and Modern Sweden", a large work that includes a collection of engravings...

Immense 17th Century Flemish wool verdure tapestry Flemish, 17th Century Height 323cm, width 424cm This very large and exquisite tapestry was crafted in wool in Flanders during the ...

This is an absolutely incredible early 17th century oil on canvas painting representing Holy Family-Virgin Mary, St.Joseph, St. Elisabeth, John the Baptist and Baby Jesus. Sir Peter ...

Attractive Italian Gilt Leaf Wall Sconce with Stone Fruit. 1960's Italy. 45" x 25" x 4". Excellent condition.

Antique mid 18th century Italian late Baroque / Rococo oil on cloth framed ornamental painting with rocaille, flowering roses and vases.

1920 Antique French Aubusson Tapestry Rug Floral Vase Runner 3x10 c.1880 3'2" x 9'5" 97cm x 287cm A magnificent antique French tapestry depict...

Pair of 19th Century Italian Painted and Gilt wood Wall Brackets. Stunning large pair of Italian Baroque style painted and gilt wood wall brackets, wall shelves or wall consoles to d...

In the 18th century the most important tables in Europe they were richly decorated with all types of fruit and flowers. To obtain the maximum effect of beauty and amazement, the sple...

Set of Three Double-Scene Biblical Engravings, Pieter Mortier, Amsterdam, ca.1700 This finely engraved biblical set consists of three early-18th-century copper engravings, each shee...

Nature morte di fiori in vaso di scuola italiana del XVII secolo, coppia di due dipinti senza cornice. Olio su tela con sfondo scuro e fiori finemente definiti. Questi dipinti, natur...

Depicing a genre scene in the Baroque style showing a dark vs light contrast imitated throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, placed in a later Regence style frame this oil on canvas...

A Baroque style oil painting from the first third of the 20th Century. This beautiful painting depicts a duck with plants, painted on a plywood panel in brown, green, and yellow ton...

Set of four antique hand-colored engravings. "Britannia Illustrata," the publication in which these prints originally appeared, was one of the most important topographical works of t...

A Fine Italian 19th Century Oil Painting on Canvas "La Madonna della Seggiola" after Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino 1483-1520). The circular painted canvas depicting a seated Madonna holding an infant Jesus Christ next to a child Saint John the Baptist, all within a massive carved gilt wood and gesso frame, which is identical to the frame on Raphael's original artwork. This painting is a 19th Century copy of Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola painted in 1514 and currently exhibited and part of the permanent collection at the Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina, Florence, Italy. The bodies of the Virgin, Christ, and the boy Baptist fill the whole picture. The tender, natural looking embrace of the Mother and Child, and the harmonious grouping of the figures in the round, have made this one of Raphael's most popular Madonnas. The isolated chair leg is reminiscent of papal furniture, which has led to the assumption that Leo X himself commissioned the painting. A retailer's label reads " Fred K/ Keer's Sons - Framers and Fine Art Dealers - 917 Broad St. Newark, N.J." - Another label from the gilder reads "Carlo Bartolini - Doratore e Verniciatori - Via Maggio 1924 - Firenze". Circa: 1890-1900. Subject: Religious painting Canvas diameter: 28 inches (71.1 cm) Frame height: 54 inches (137.2 cm) Frame width: 42 1/2 inches (108 cm) Frame depth: 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian, March 28 or April 6, 1483 - April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates. Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region, where his father Giovanni Santi was court painter to the Duke. The reputation of the court had been established by Federico III da Montefeltro, a highly successful condottiere who had been created Duke of Urbino by the Pope - Urbino formed part of the Papal States - and who died the year before Raphael was born. The emphasis of Federico's court was rather more literary than artistic, but Giovanni Santi was a poet of sorts as well as a painter, and had written a rhymed chronicle of the life of Federico, and both wrote the texts and produced the decor for masque-like court entertainments. His poem to Federico shows him as keen to show awareness of the most advanced North Italian painters, and Early Netherlandish artists as well. In the very small court of Urbino he was probably more integrated into the central circle of the ruling family than most court painters. Federico was succeeded by his son Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, who married Elisabetta Gonzaga, daughter of the ruler of Mantua, the most brilliant of the smaller Italian courts for both music and the visual arts. Under them, the court continued as a centre for literary culture. Growing up in the circle of this small court gave Raphael the excellent manners and social skills stressed by Vasari. Court life in Urbino at just after this period was to become set as the model of the virtues of the Italian humanist court through Baldassare Castiglione's depiction of it in his classic work The Book of the Courtier, published in 1528. Castiglione moved to Urbino in 1504, when Raphael was no longer based there but frequently visited, and they became good friends. He became close to other regular visitors to the court: Pietro Bibbiena and Pietro Bembo, both later cardinals, were already becoming well known as writers, and would be in Rome during Raphael's period there. Raphael mixed easily in the highest circles throughout his life, one of the factors that tended to give a misleading impression of effortlessness to his career. He did not receive a full humanistic education however; it is unclear how easily he read Latin. Early Life and Works His mother Màgia died in 1491 when Raphael was eight, followed on August 1, 1494 by his father, who had already remarried. Raphael was thus orphaned at eleven; his formal guardian became his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo, a priest, who subsequently engaged in litigation with his stepmother. He probably continued to live with his stepmother when not staying as an apprentice with a master. He had already shown talent, according to Vasari, who says that Raphael had been "a great help to his father". A self-portrait drawing from his teenage years shows his precocity. His father's workshop continued and, probably together with his stepmother, Raphael evidently played a part in managing it from a very early age. In Urbino, he came into contact with the works of Paolo Uccello, previously the court painter (d. 1475), and Luca Signorelli, who until 1498 was based in nearby Città di Castello. According to Vasari, his father placed him in the workshop of the Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as an apprentice "despite the tears of his mother". The evidence of an apprenticeship comes only from Vasari and another source, and has been disputed—eight was very early for an apprenticeship to begin. An alternative theory is that he received at least some training from Timoteo Viti, who acted as court painter in Urbino from 1495.Most modern historians agree that Raphael at least worked as an assistant to Perugino from around 1500; the influence of Perugino on Raphael's early work is very clear: "probably no other pupil of genius has ever absorbed so much of his master's teaching as Raphael did", according to Wölfflin. Vasari wrote that it was impossible to distinguish between their hands at this period, but many modern art historians claim to do better and detect his hand in specific areas of works by Perugino or his workshop. Apart from stylistic closeness, their techniques are very similar as well, for example having paint applied thickly, using an oil varnish medium, in shadows and darker garments, but very thinly on flesh areas. An excess of resin in the varnish often causes cracking of areas of paint in the works of both masters. The Perugino workshop was active in both Perugia and Florence, perhaps maintaining two permanent branches. Raphael is described as a "master", that is to say fully trained, in December 1500. His first documented work was the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Città di Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. Evangelista da Pian di Meleto, who had worked for his father, was also named in the commission. It was commissioned in 1500 and finished in 1501; now only some cut sections and a preparatory drawing remain. In the following years he painted works for other churches there, including the Mond Crucifixion (about 1503) and the Brera Wedding of the Virgin (1504), and for Perugia, such as the Oddi Altarpiece. He very probably also visited Florence in this period. These are large works, some in fresco, where Raphael confidently marshals his compositions in the somewhat static style of Perugino. He also painted many small and exquisite cabinet paintings in these years, probably mostly for the connoisseurs in the Urbino court, like the Three Graces and St. Michael, and he began to paint Madonnas and portraits. In 1502 he went to Siena at the invitation of another pupil of Perugino, Pinturicchio, "being a friend of Raphael and knowing him to be a draughtsman of the highest quality" to help with the cartoons, and very likely the designs, for a fresco series in the Piccolomini Library in Siena Cathedral. He was evidently already much in demand even at this early stage in his career. Influence of Florence Raphael led a "nomadic" life, working in various centres in Northern Italy, but spent a good deal of time in Florence, perhaps from about 1504. Although there is traditional reference to a "Florentine period...

This beautiful maiolica pottery charger is from Montelupo, Italy and is boldly decorated with a soldier walking, carrying a tool of the day. Vividly painted in yellow, green, and blu...